Directed by : Anthony Maras
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5461944/
Here at Taj.. guest is God.
Spoilers Ahead..
Its a movie that would be a different experience depending on if you were in Mumbai during those attacks day, or watched it unfold on TV in some other part of India, or you are a non-indian having Taj Hotel as one of the places to visit in future. I myself been in Mumbai for almost 10 years, but in 2008 I didnt live here, ended up watching on T.V how horrendous and painful it was to see the terrorists do havoc.
Director Anthony Maras begins the movie with the boat scene on which Kasab and rest terrorists came into Mumbai, they are on a call where their boss is reminding what they have to do and basically brainwashing them which he must have done while making them join the training. Maras builds the narrative 2 way, the arrival of the terrorists onto the Mumbai streets/cabs as you know where its heading and on other hand the head chef of Taj Hotel, Oberoi (Anupam Kher) telling the chefs and waiters how the guests are God and there shouldn't be any mistake from their sides.
You are literally waiting for the misery to start, how the happy faces at the hotel busy in their routine life will turn into 'Will I make it out alive?' There's a chilling sequence where the lady is hiding inside a closet with hands on mouth of the little kid so that he doesn't cry, and you wonder if he could die due to loss of breathe instead. Not much focus is given to the VT Station attack which is good in a way or it would had been a lot to watch. Having said that, Maras does show a nice detailed look at the attacks with good use of camera, something that Rgv's film some years back couldn't do.
We see terrorists knock on doors as room-service guys who then shoot down the guests as they open door, the lives meaning nothing to them like its a video game, you just kill the people on other side. Its very brutal and tough to watch knowing it had happened in real.
Oddly, the main leading actors don't really get enough scenes to shine through, Armie Hammer especially as the tourist american guy is totally wasted. Dev Patel also should had got few more scenes whether before or after the attacks. Nazanin Boniadi who plays wife of Armie Hammer, gives a good performance, love the scene where she tries to save herself through prayers not letting the terrorist kill her.
Hotel Mumbai mainly works because its well directed, and tries to not divert away from the main plot at anytime, it could had been lot better though if the main characters were written efficiently to make us care more about them. Definately not a easy watch and probably I won't see the movie again but its always nice to see how in such a situation there were some brave people who cared to keep others around them alive.
My Rating : 6.5/10
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5461944/
Here at Taj.. guest is God.
Spoilers Ahead..
Its a movie that would be a different experience depending on if you were in Mumbai during those attacks day, or watched it unfold on TV in some other part of India, or you are a non-indian having Taj Hotel as one of the places to visit in future. I myself been in Mumbai for almost 10 years, but in 2008 I didnt live here, ended up watching on T.V how horrendous and painful it was to see the terrorists do havoc.
Director Anthony Maras begins the movie with the boat scene on which Kasab and rest terrorists came into Mumbai, they are on a call where their boss is reminding what they have to do and basically brainwashing them which he must have done while making them join the training. Maras builds the narrative 2 way, the arrival of the terrorists onto the Mumbai streets/cabs as you know where its heading and on other hand the head chef of Taj Hotel, Oberoi (Anupam Kher) telling the chefs and waiters how the guests are God and there shouldn't be any mistake from their sides.
You are literally waiting for the misery to start, how the happy faces at the hotel busy in their routine life will turn into 'Will I make it out alive?' There's a chilling sequence where the lady is hiding inside a closet with hands on mouth of the little kid so that he doesn't cry, and you wonder if he could die due to loss of breathe instead. Not much focus is given to the VT Station attack which is good in a way or it would had been a lot to watch. Having said that, Maras does show a nice detailed look at the attacks with good use of camera, something that Rgv's film some years back couldn't do.
We see terrorists knock on doors as room-service guys who then shoot down the guests as they open door, the lives meaning nothing to them like its a video game, you just kill the people on other side. Its very brutal and tough to watch knowing it had happened in real.
Oddly, the main leading actors don't really get enough scenes to shine through, Armie Hammer especially as the tourist american guy is totally wasted. Dev Patel also should had got few more scenes whether before or after the attacks. Nazanin Boniadi who plays wife of Armie Hammer, gives a good performance, love the scene where she tries to save herself through prayers not letting the terrorist kill her.
Hotel Mumbai mainly works because its well directed, and tries to not divert away from the main plot at anytime, it could had been lot better though if the main characters were written efficiently to make us care more about them. Definately not a easy watch and probably I won't see the movie again but its always nice to see how in such a situation there were some brave people who cared to keep others around them alive.
My Rating : 6.5/10
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